Thursday, July 25, 2013

Puddle Love

This year summer came late. And I mean very late. There were weeks where we didn’t see the sun, and truthfully I think a lot of us wondered if it would ever come. We skipped spring, we didn’t see flowers for a long time and the crops are a couple of months late. Seriously. Our landlords didn’t get their usual business at the Beer Garden and we were worried for them. (Most people don’t come out when it’s so rainy.) There was flooding all over Europe and there were even some deaths related to the floods. At one point southern Bavaria had over 20,000 emergency workers battling the floods. Sooo... do you believe me? We've had LOTS of rain.

I think it was about mid June when the sun finally came out to play. And boy did it come a blazin. There were three days in a row where we really had to just “get by.” We went to the pool, the kids carried their squirt bottles around and I was making ice like nobody’s business. I DID NOT want to get caught without ice because all we ever wanted was smoothies. There’s no air conditioning whatsoever in the majority of the homes here. The only air conditioning I’ve seen is in a few doctor’s offices.

After a few days of heat, we had rain... and more rain. Currently we're experiencing another heat wave. But… last night we had the craziest rain and thunder storm. I have never experienced thunder so startling. One of the claps shook the house and me, Trip and Londyn all just stopped and look at each other. Scary!

Londyn is a fair weather child. If it is too hot she wants to go inside. Her cheeks turn BRIGHT red and she will only stand in the shade. She also gets cold easily. I think she belongs in San Diego… but then again so do I! ☺

Puddle jumping has been a most favorite activity this year since we’ve had many more rainy days than expected. The kids were beyond excited everyday to head outside and get muddy. I can’t tell you how many pairs of shoes I had to scrub down and dry out. Trip really likes to sit in the puddles too. Makes for lots of fun laundry… and don’t get me started on the German dryers. Ooooweeee.

I’ve always been in love with rain. When I was single, the site of a couple of raindrops meant drop everything and head out for a run. I would bundle up my ipod in a Ziploc bag and just enjoy my time under the rainclouds.

I wanted to share these photos because they capture us so well. I mean most days I don't have makeup on and the kids look like orphans.